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Thanks for the information. I guess I'll have a better assessment when I visit campus next week!

Do you happen to know of anyone in the MOT program? I am trying to see if I can speak to one of their students during my visit.

Thank you!

kryzak wrote:

slsu wrote:

Hi kryzak,

I had a quick question regarding the average age of students at Haas. I am currently 28/F/Taiwanese-American, and had thought about applying this year. I wouldn't be able to make R2 (still pending on taking the GMATs), and had contemplated R3, although I'm not sure how that would fare given this year's competitive pool.

I'm interested in pursuing a career in non-profit technology. I worked 5 years in corporate IT (systems developer/project manager) for a large pharmaceutical company, and I just finished a year as an AmeriCorps volunteer in NYC (working with the anti-hunger community via soup kitchens/food pantries --- I know, huge change from pharma!). I've just signed on to be an independent systems consultant for a non-profit IT consulting org next month.

Will it hurt if I push back another year?

Hi there,

Round 3 is generally more competitive, but with your pretty unique experience and goals, I think you could probably make a good case and have a good chance of getting an interview. Of course, moving it back one year (and getting more non-profit experience) will definitely help (and won't hurt) your chances. Berkeley's average age is somewhere around 28, and there are quite a few of us 30+ people here (over 15%).

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27 Oct 2008, 17:40

Well, I'm not technically *in the program*, but I attended (and currently attend) several courses that go into the certificate. Feel free to PM me with questions, and/or we can meet on campus if time allows.

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29 Oct 2008, 12:00

Hey all-

pretty much got all my essays done. The only one I have left is:

(Optional). If you wish to be considered for a Haas Achievement Award (for individuals who have achieved success in spite of significant economic, educational, health-related and/or other obstacles), please use this space to address the obstacles you have overcome. (750-word maximum)

My question is - how many students normally receive this award each year? Just a couple, or a decent amount of the program? As a peace corps volunteer Im thinking about applying for this but don't want to spend the time cranking out a huge essay if it only goes to 1 person who came from some war-torn nation or grew up paralyzed from the waist down. I don't say the above in a condescending tone, just wanted to state that I'm sure there'll be a couple more deserving people than I.

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29 Oct 2008, 12:12

Another app question while Im at it:

>>'Sponsorship

Check here if your MBA education will be funded by an organization other than yourself, your family, loans, or an employer, such as Fulbright, Muskie, etc. Do not check this box if your source of funding is yourself. <<

Confused about this one. I plan on applying for Federal loans, does that mean I should check the box?

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29 Oct 2008, 13:25

bostonsparky wrote:

Another app question while Im at it:

>>'Sponsorship

Check here if your MBA education will be funded by an organization other than yourself, your family, loans, or an employer, such as Fulbright, Muskie, etc. Do not check this box if your source of funding is yourself. <<

Confused about this one. I plan on applying for Federal loans, does that mean I should check the box?

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29 Oct 2008, 15:22

ryguy904 wrote:

bostonsparky wrote:

Another app question while Im at it:

>>'Sponsorship

Check here if your MBA education will be funded by an organization other than yourself, your family, loans, or an employer, such as Fulbright, Muskie, etc. Do not check this box if your source of funding is yourself. <<

Confused about this one. I plan on applying for Federal loans, does that mean I should check the box?

Sounds like you check the box.

Upon further examination I think the type of funding they are talking about is programs for international students (which Fulbright/Muskie are) so Im going with no.

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29 Oct 2008, 22:17

ryguy904 wrote:

bostonsparky wrote:

Another app question while Im at it:

>>'Sponsorship

Check here if your MBA education will be funded by an organization other than yourself, your family, loans, or an employer, such as Fulbright, Muskie, etc. Do not check this box if your source of funding is yourself. <<

Confused about this one. I plan on applying for Federal loans, does that mean I should check the box?

Sounds like you check the box.

If I'm reading this right, you would NOT check the box, right? Since Federal loans is not an "organization other than... loans..."
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29 Oct 2008, 22:25

bostonsparky wrote:

Hey all-

pretty much got all my essays done. The only one I have left is:

(Optional). If you wish to be considered for a Haas Achievement Award (for individuals who have achieved success in spite of significant economic, educational, health-related and/or other obstacles), please use this space to address the obstacles you have overcome. (750-word maximum)

My question is - how many students normally receive this award each year? Just a couple, or a decent amount of the program? As a peace corps volunteer Im thinking about applying for this but don't want to spend the time cranking out a huge essay if it only goes to 1 person who came from some war-torn nation or grew up paralyzed from the waist down. I don't say the above in a condescending tone, just wanted to state that I'm sure there'll be a couple more deserving people than I.

wow, it's 750 words now? it was 500 last year. well, I know a few people who got it, and they're perfectly regular people. The reason they got it is that they've done a LOT of innovative stuff against odds (either social obstacles or monetary obstacles, etc...). I don't think too many people get the award... maybe like 3-5 or so?

The rule of thumb is about 10% of the class get Haas Merit or Achievement. In ours we have 27 total this year (out of 240). So Haas Merit generally fills out about 20+, the rest are Achievement scholars.
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30 Oct 2008, 10:54

Submitted, and I ended up taking a stab at the Achievement Award. And good to hear about your compañeros that received the award kryzak, I didn't at all pretend to be out of a Horatio Alger story, just talked about stuff I've done in Peace Corps with the minimal budgets we have here.

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30 Oct 2008, 10:58

YihWei wrote:

Copied over from the Haas ambassador thread:

I made my way across the bridge this morning to visit Haas. It was definitely a day well spent.

9-11AM: Class visit. I sat in on an Intro to Finance core course. I don't have a business background so it was great for me to see what's in store if/when I embark on my MBA. It was finance, so nothing too exciting, but the class was very diverse and the professor was very good about answering questions and facilitating discussion.

11AM-Noon: I met THE kryzak live and in the flesh! He was kind enough to chat with me about Haas and his experiences during his MBA application process.

Noon-1PM: Lunch with students. We split up into 5-6 person groups and had lunch with a current student. Lunch was a good opportunity to chat with a current student over a meal and to get to know some of the other visiting prospectives.

1-2PM: Information session. Two student ambassadors gave a presentation and overview on the Haas program. The talk was very conversational and they stayed late to answer questions. The dean of admissions even stopped by towards the end of the hour.

Even though all the activities that I participated in were very typical of your average school visit, I left very impressed with Haas. There's just something about the program (in a very good way) that I can't quite put my finger on. I think it has to do with the combination of many factors that shape the culture at Haas: small class size, location, quality of students, the program's strategic plan (leading through innovation), etc. One phrase I heard repeatedly was, "confidence and competence without arrogance", and I definitely got that vibe from all the students that I met.

If you are interested in a Haas MBA, I strongly suggest you make a visit. You won't regret it!

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30 Oct 2008, 15:22

Some questions I have for any of the Haas representatives:

1. What electives/classes would you recommend for someone with entrepreneurship aspirations in the medical devices field? 2. Can you tell me about recruiters from the biotech / medical devices fields? How many students got internships? Full time offers? What about approaching companies who does not recruit on campus?3. What is the added value of the MOT (management of technology) certificate in your opinion? It sounds interesting but I wasn’t able to contact anyone who is actually on that program.4. Do you know of any medical devices startups initiated by Haas students?

I contacted numerous Haas students so far and I am amazed by the responsiveness and willingness to help of you guys.

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31 Oct 2008, 04:09

Hey Kry,I have a question regarding R1/R2 strategy. Haas has scheduled an MBA admission event in my city (Europe) for late November. Since I won't be able to travel to USA for an interview, I was wondering is it better for me to apply in R1 (and rush the application a little bit, because I've already done 4 of them) or to meet people from Haas, get some admission tips or something and apply in R2?
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I'm pretty much set w/ my essays but am really struggling to come up with something for short essay #1 about what my biggest regret is. Anyone care to share what they wrote?

Hi glettian,

I am currently applying R1, and so far I am working on 2 ideas for this--one personal, one more professional. The personal one is not really getting to know my grandfather before he died when I was in college. He was my only living grandparent but he was very shy and I didn't really take the opportunity to know him better. The professional one is that before the last summer of college, I received two amazing internship opportunities. One was an international fellowship in an area I was passionate about (poverty alleviation with the World Bank) but did not pay much beyond basic living expenses, and the second was an investment banking internship which would obviously cover my expenses and part of the following year's tuition. My parents were going through some tough challenges financially, so I chose the banking internship to help ease their strain. I see the decision kind of as a regret because although it was driven partly out of necessity, I should have explored other options for funding (loans, etc.) instead of taking the "easy way out". Right now I am kind of leaning toward the second one because I think it fits in better with my overall "story". I hope this helps and good luck!

Thanks for sharing your story. Something I hear over and over is that you should write "why and how" besides "what." I don't think what incident you regret really matters so much because it's personal. Why you regret it and how you will change it are something they might be more interested in reading.

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31 Oct 2008, 06:29

Pathfinder_77 wrote:

Hey Kry,I have a question regarding R1/R2 strategy. Haas has scheduled an MBA admission event in my city (Europe) for late November. Since I won't be able to travel to USA for an interview, I was wondering is it better for me to apply in R1 (and rush the application a little bit, because I've already done 4 of them) or to meet people from Haas, get some admission tips or something and apply in R2?

Good to see Haas thread being active again. I am preparing for RD2. Stephanie Fujii said at the New York City infosession that RD1 and RD2 aren't much different, RD3 fluctuates year to year, and RD4 is definitely hard. But last year people at G-club had better results in RD1. What do you say, kry?

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31 Oct 2008, 11:56

I noticed on the Haas application that there was a check box for if you were a Berkeley undergrad. I don't think any of the other apps that I have filled out have had that. Do you know if Haas gives any preference (even a small one ) for Berkeley undergrads.

On a completely unrelated note...do the current Haas students know if Prof. Robinson teaches any classes at the graduate level regularly? I took Undergraduate Business 10 (Principles of Business) with Prof. Robinson at Berkeley when I was considering becoming a Haas undergrad major. He was awesome!
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31 Oct 2008, 13:08

Leverandon wrote:

I noticed on the Haas application that there was a check box for if you were a Berkeley undergrad. I don't think any of the other apps that I have filled out have had that. Do you know if Haas gives any preference (even a small one ) for Berkeley undergrads.

On a completely unrelated note...do the current Haas students know if Prof. Robinson teaches any classes at the graduate level regularly? I took Undergraduate Business 10 (Principles of Business) with Prof. Robinson at Berkeley when I was considering becoming a Haas undergrad major. He was awesome!

WOW, lots of questions while I'm away at a conference. Anyway, I'll try my best to answer and will have to defer some to the official Haas Student Ambassadors (hsa@haas.berkeley.edu).

I don't remember the Berkeley undergrad checkbox, but from what I know, Berkeley UG definitely has the most people represented in the class, though Stanford, Penn, and UCLA are not far behind. I wouldn't read too much into that check box.

Not sure about Prof. Robinson, that's something braindancer or naturallight might be able to answer?

sng wrote:

Good to see Haas thread being active again. I am preparing for RD2. Stephanie Fujii said at the New York City infosession that RD1 and RD2 aren't much different, RD3 fluctuates year to year, and RD4 is definitely hard. But last year people at G-club had better results in RD1. What do you say, kry?

R1 and R2 should be the same, but for GMATClub last year, 6 of us got in R1 and only 1 got in R2, so take that however you like to.

I would urge R1 if you can make it, but DON'T sacrifice the quality of your application just to push it in R1.

rosav wrote:

I am currently applying R1, and so far I am working on 2 ideas for this--one personal, one more professional. T

The personal one will showcase who YOU are, while the professional one will strengthen your experience story. The only caution I have with the personal one is that you truly talk about WHY you regret not knowing your grandfather well. It should be a substantial reason and not just because "I just kinda wanna get to know him...". If you have a good story and a strong reason (that you can relate to the core of who you are as a person), I would go with the personal one, because those differentiate you more and leave more of an impact. Of course, that's the high risk-high reward route, so I'll leave the final decision to you.

Morgen wrote:

Some questions I have for any of the Haas representatives:

1. What electives/classes would you recommend for someone with entrepreneurship aspirations in the medical devices field? 2. Can you tell me about recruiters from the biotech / medical devices fields? How many students got internships? Full time offers? What about approaching companies who does not recruit on campus?3. What is the added value of the MOT (management of technology) certificate in your opinion? It sounds interesting but I wasn’t able to contact anyone who is actually on that program.4. Do you know of any medical devices startups initiated by Haas students?

I contacted numerous Haas students so far and I am amazed by the responsiveness and willingness to help of you guys.

Thanks!

Those are some tough questions . I would have to recommend you email the hsa@haas.berkeley.edu. Matt Holman, who's an MBA/MPH candidate should be able to help you out with that.

A few more days left, GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

Can someone start a list with who's submitting, a la the old Berkeley thread:

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31 Oct 2008, 15:02

Sounds good. I really liked Prof. Robinson and Dean Campbell is fantastic (he needs to run for Governor after Arnold is done). Its tough because I really like the faculty and curriculum at Haas but sort of had set my mind on going to a different graduate school from my undergrad. Hmmm...

I think I will have to apply R2 though. I've already applied to five R1s (with NYU and Columbia in the pipeline to make it seven). I just don't think I can get a quality app into Haas before the R1 deadline.
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